What happens when life gets in the way of business?
Est. reading time 2 minutes
As a business owner of Radar Hill I have a rather busy and multi-faceted job. On a daily basis (and not just weekdays!) I oversee dozens of projects, 7 staff members, 7 contractors and various administrative tasks. I also have a young family that puts high demands on my time. As such, there is no "good time" to have extra work piled on or be laid up with even the smallest medical condition.
Health issues can knock you out unexpectedly
A few years ago, I learned that I would need a hernia operation that required "weeks" of recovery. Over the years I've managed to stay fairly healthy in no small part to my relationships with my business partners. A lot of small business owners run their lives "flat out" - always working, always expected to perform, and precious little down time. Shawn, Roger and I made a decision early on that we would grant each other the time required to attend to our families and health. Interestingly, this philosophy appears to be self-serving on the surface, in practice it has proven to be service to our clients.
Communication systems are key
One of the most obvious problems that occurs when a principal participant in a business is removed is that a stream of communication is severed. Here at Radar Hill we have researched dozens of online tools that track and record correspondence and we have settled on a product called "Highrise". In it, an entire history of customer communication is recorded so that any staff member can quickly get up to speed with a project, a task or even whom they were speaking to.
Zero Company Down Time
Every client has the right and the expectation that a legitimate business is always going to be there for them. Customers are generally very kind to small business owners who need to take time away from work for personal reasons. However, it is limiting factor in a business if, every now and then, service is poor. Many people do not have patience for a delay when things are important and we believe every customer deserves timely feedback and attention regardless of personal issues at play within a company.
You can take a vacation?
Over our 20+ years in business, we've seen hundreds of stories of companies leaving websites and projects abandoned for lack of communication. The resulting headache can be intense. We wanted to have it all: consistently serve our customers, grow our business and take some time to nurture our families. Our systems are so good that we rarely "announce" that one of us is going on vacation. Our record keeping and instant access to client coorespondence means that everything new is just handled by the other staff.
It's all about service
This truly is the best of both worlds: we take care of ourselves and our customers are taken care with top notch dependability and responsiveness.